Ireland - Day Three!

Today we woke up, packed our things up, and went down for breakfast. It was our first traditional Irish breakfast! Fresh juices, granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, toast, poached eggs, bacon (which in Ireland, is basically what we call ham), Irish sausage (much more finely ground meat than ours, and sweeter, not spicy), and black and white pudding (which is not liquidy pudding, it's more like a sausage - the black is made with pig's blood - sounds gross, but not bad!). Loved the Irish brown soda bread with blackberry jam in the mornings, and the coffee was always good! The breakfasts are big because the lunch is usually small - so we loaded up and were good for most of the day! (The black stuff in the middle is the black pudding.)

Once we were loaded on the bus, we began a tour of Dublin. We drove through the Temple Bar district (this is the night-life area of Dublin - tons of bars and restaurants!). Then we set off for Trinity College, where we went to the Book of Kells exhibit (an illuminated manuscript, dating from around 800AD - it contains the four Gospels, written in Latin, as well as prefaces, summaries, and other text - absolutely beautiful!) and got to experience the "Long Room" library - Very cool! Afterwards, we had a little bit of time to do some shopping, and grab a light lunch (Mike and I did more shopping... and ate the goodies in our backpacks instead).

(I took this picture of "Finn's Hotel" for my niece, Finley!)

Next, back on the bus and over to Phoenix Park - home of the Dublin Zoo, the Ireland's President's House (which looks just like the United States' White House - they had the same architect!), and the United States Ambassador's House. (This funny little mini-castle was in Phoenix Park.)

Also, drove by the (imagine a glowing light and angels singing) Guinness Brewery!

Next, it was on to the town of Kilkenny. We played around the Kilkenny Castle, but it wasn't open... So we walked into town instead. Most of the shops were simply daily living shops - produce, butchers, coffee shops, pubs... not much for gifts. But the store fronts were colorful and fun! We stumbled across the Smithwicks Brewery, which is housed in a former Franciscan Abbey. We finished up in Kilkenny with a yummy cafe mocha and headed back to the bus...

We had a nice long drive to Waterford - lots of beautiful scenery! Green fields, cute little houses, sheep, fuzzy horses, round-a-bouts, sheep, ducks and chickens, more sheep... The weather for the day was good for being on the bus - sunny when we were in Dublin, cool and rainy the rest of the day (but conveniently stopped raining when we were out walking around!).

The day ended in Waterford, a riverfront town, and yes - home of Waterford Crystal. We had dinner at the hotel with our whole group in a cozy, warm, private dining room - an excellent meal (salad, stuffed pork and potatoes, and chocolate coconut profiterales - YUM!). (Mike's aunt, Annie, and his Mom, enjoying dinner. And Mike and I - my only good hair picture of the entire trip! Ha ha ha.)

We relaxed and enjoyed a quiet evening at Dooley's Hotel (due to a warning that we shouldn't venture far from the hotel at night...). We got to bed early - which was a blessing so early in the trip!

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Good night's sleep!
2. Big, yummy breakfast.
3. I didn't get car sick on the crazy bus ride! The roads here are curvy, hilly, and bumpy!
4. LOVED the Trinity College Long Room library. All those OLD books!
5. Bought some Christmas presents.
6. Our tour group is fun to be with - so many fun personalities and everyone is so nice!
7. My Smartwool long underwear - worked perfect and so comfy on a cool day!
8. A little bit of sunshine!
9. Packing good lunch and snack food - convenient and cheap! (Granola bars and dried fruit are perfect!)
10. Time to run around with Mike (even if for only a little while).
11. Good dinner - very filling! Loved the chocolate coconut profiterales (what does that word mean, anyway? They're little cream puffs with chocolate sauce and coconut... Mmmm....)
12. Patchwork tweed hats and beautiful wool scarves.